Trump Administration to Halt Certain Funding for Planned Parenthood
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is currently assessing various organizations, including Planned Parenthood, to ensure compliance with grant agreements.
HHS has suspended Title X federal funding for Planned Parenthood, recognized as the leading provider of abortions in the United States.
Title X funding covers a range of services including “natural family planning methods, infertility services, services for adolescents, highly effective contraceptive methods, as well as breast and cervical cancer screening and prevention,” among other offerings.
According to an official statement from HHS, funding has been withheld from 16 organizations—nine of which are linked to Planned Parenthood—while their policies are scrutinized for potential breaches of civil rights regulations and executive orders enacted by President Donald Trump.
“HHS is performing this evaluation to confirm that these entities are fully compliant with federal laws and grant conditions, as well as to ensure the responsible management of taxpayer resources,” the statement indicates.
Critics of the funding freeze warn that it could lead to a reduction in essential services for low-income patients.
“The consequences of restricting Title X funding are clear: individuals nationwide will suffer, cancer screenings will go undetected, access to contraception will decline sharply, and the nation’s [Sexually Transmitted Infections] crisis will exacerbate,” stated Planned Parenthood president Alex McGill Johnson on Monday.
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This decision is set to spark a new wave of legal and political contention.
During his first term in 2017, Trump reinstated and broadened the Mexico City Policy, which barred Title X funding recipients from providing abortion referrals.
Subsequently, Planned Parenthood opted out of the Title X program, only to rejoin after President Joe Biden abolished the policy.
Notably, Trump’s appointments of Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court ultimately contributed to the overturning of the 1972 Roe v. Wade ruling, which had legalized abortion across the country.
“For 54 years, they aimed to eliminate Roe v. Wade, and I accomplished that. I take pride in having done so,” Trump later shared in an interview with Fox News.
In 2018, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster terminated funding to Planned Parenthood and all abortion providers. A lawsuit challenging this defunding is currently pending before the Supreme Court. Should Planned Parenthood lose this case, it could set a precedent for other states to follow South Carolina’s lead, significantly endangering the organization’s financial stability.
“South Carolina has made its stance clear; we prioritize the right to life. Taxpayers should not be compelled to subsidize abortion providers that contradict their beliefs,” the governor stated in a release on February 10.
Reuters contributed to this report.
